Obama's staff works full time at balancing life with job

March 22, 2009|By Christi Parsons, Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — ome afternoons in the West Wing, as he wonders how best to convey the White House's messages about an economic downturn, financial calamity, job loss and some of the toughest foreign policy challenges of a generation, Robert Gibbs finds himself thinking about a turtle named Yertle.

In the back of his mind, the press secretary to President Barack Obama is trying to figure out if he can get home for story time with his 5-year-old son, Ethan, whose book of choice is frequently the Dr. Seuss classic about the king of the pond.

"You really have to plan your time," Gibbs said one late afternoon, his eyes darting from his computer screen to his caller ID to the television set on his desk. "There are some times when you can actually pull it off, if you can just spot when you've stopped being productive." This is life in the White House, where a frenetic pace is the norm and has been for generations. In the first 100 days of Obama's administration, as the country faces some of the most difficult challenges in decades, the pressure to be at the office around the clock is powerful.

Yet that's not the vision of life that Obama idealizes. He consistently calls on Americans to make family a priority. And he's done the same while managing his own workload, often rearranging his schedule to squeeze in time with his two young daughters.

That's harder to do for his staff, many in their 30s and 40s, with young children and working spouses. Staffers must adjust to the president's schedule, not the other way around.

As a result many members of Obama's staff are trying to achieve the same tricky work-life balance their contemporaries across the nation face, only under the brightest of spotlights.

They describe a constant push and pull between the compelling duties of the West Wing and those on the home front, and their efforts -- some successful, some not -- to hold it together. "When it's Saturday and you have to go to work," said deputy chief of staff Mona Sutphen, "the resentment factor can shoot pretty high." The president recently gave explicit orders to his staff not to neglect their families, directing them after the passage of his first big legislative initiative to get home and enjoy some time with their spouses and children. When handing out official laptops to staffers, West Wing brass gave them first to those with families, along with instructions to work at home when possible.

First Lady Michelle Obama is taking special pains to send a family-friendly message to the staff. The movie playing on the White House big screen the other night -- for employees and their children -- was "Madagascar II." She's currently working her way through the list of Cabinet secretaries, inviting their spouses for lunch.

New on the lawn by the Rose Garden is a tribute to the Obamas' top priorities -- a freshly installed wooden swing-and-slide set for daughters Malia and Sasha. The family inaugurated it, and staffers have been bringing their children in to try it out too.

Regardless, the White House is hardly a family-friendly workplace.

Sutphen, who worked in the White House during Bill Clinton's administration, knew she was signing up for a tough job as deputy chief of staff. She had recently given birth and written a book in the same year, but she figured that was nothing like her new challenges. "The issues are more dramatic," she said. "It's zero sum."

Other administrations have struggled with similar issues. Clinton promised a supportive environment for families, but his White House was famous as an extreme work zone. Although President George W. Bush adhered to a less strenuous schedule, staffers in his White House routinely racked up 16-hour days.

Nowadays, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel closes the senior staff meeting every morning by announcing it's time to call his wife and children, who are in Chicago for the remainder of the school year.

And Michelle Obama, a lawyer and former executive, is making work-life balance a theme of her time as first lady and has urged the administration to be more supportive of military families. Her chief of staff, Jackie Norris, thinks this White House may be different from the others because of the family's philosophy.

"We all recognize we are going to work incredibly hard," Norris said, "but we can't lose our way. We have to think about children and families every single day."

The Obamas appear willing to challenge the local culture where it conflicts with their views on family. Michelle Obama wants to spread newspaper across the floor of the East Room so the children can have a pizza party there. (The residence staff isn't convinced this is a proper use of the historic chamber.)

The Obamas also planned to skip Saturday's Gridiron dinner, the annual white-tie event of Washington's spring gala season, so they could start their family vacation as soon as the girls' spring break began Friday.

But the rules will only bend so far. The president acknowledged as much a few weeks ago, right after the economic stimulus package passed following a grueling round-the-clock effort by top aides to craft it, answer questions about it and sell it to Congress and the nation. The next afternoon, as those staffers gathered in the Oval Office, Obama ordered them to make up some of the time they'd missed with their families.

There was a budget to put together, though, and a housing plan, and a rescue of the nation's banking system.

"Take some time down," Gibbs recalls the president saying. "But don't take too much."

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cparsons@tribune.com

Little kids, big house

A small kids club called 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. home: chicagotribune.com/pennkids